aa 5.1.7

There is something about digital dexterity games. The difficulty of interacting with the game posed by the unnatural controls (keys, clicks or taps) makes it a rather weird genre. aa is also suffering from this problem, but the simplicity of the design really make up for it.

aa is the first of a series of minimalist games that deal with pins as projectiles. In this one, you will need to fit your set of pins into one rotating ball, making sure the pin bobs don't ever touch... or you lose.

The levels increase in difficulty, by adding more pins to fit, and increasing the speed of rotation. The direction of the rotation changes too from level to level, just to give you a headache. But don't worry, just as you'll begin getting used to it, the speed will start to change within the same level, and eventually the direction will too.

A simple "throw" between to existing pins will soon need to give away to more exquisite methods of pin delivery. As spaces get tight, you will eventually need to gauge the speed, time your throws, learn to make several throws in succession and even develop a rhythm. In-level speed changes are also cyclical, but free spaces may become harder to access due to them constantly showing up when the ball speeds up, for example.

I have also noticed that the game throws in a bit of mockery. Whenever you fail a level, the screen turns red for a moment and you get back to the main menu. However, when you fail by your last thrown pin, the red screen lingers on for a while, like it's saying "Look how close you were, but you blew it anyway, you loser. Ha ha ha!" I know that's what the devs intended for you to think, and it's rather painful, thank you.

Final Thoughts

I am tempted to check out the other games of General Adaptive Apps. But I am going to wait until I get deeply frustrated with aa. I have no doubt that ff or rr are just as unforgiving as this one. be that as it may, the minimalist nature is rather comforting in a sea of unnecessary eye candy.